In our Procrastination and Her Sisters Series, you first met Procrastination herself. We learned that “Procrastination Never Leads To A Good Destination”! Next, You were introduced to the first of her two sisters – Poor Time Management. Now it’s time to meet the final sister in this Trio – Disorganization.

We know it’s true that Procrastination is the Killer of Ambition and Success. The “Law of Diminishing Intention” Principle states that: The longer we wait to get started on something, the less likely we are to do it.

Procrastination’s first sister, whom we met, is Poor Time Management. Poor Time Management can really get our life out of control as we feel like we’re running faster and faster to keep up with our lives but rarely accomplishing our most important goals. See 3 Tips To Better Time Management Here

Today, we’re going to put Disorganization, the third sister, in her place! Disorganization comes into our lives for many reasons. Sometimes she’s a casual visitor, making a mess for a day or two and sometimes, she moves into the guest room, wreaking havoc on our lives as we get swallowed up by the piles of paper, the tasks undone, and in fact, whirlwind she creates.

Disorganization happens for many reasons. Stress in our lives can cause us to become disorganized as we struggle to remain focused while we face challenging situations in our personal or professional life. (or both!) Taking on too many projects at home or at work also can often lead to disorganization with competing deadlines and priorities. Limit yourself to one or two projects at a time in addition to your main work focus.

Lack of Focus is a HUGE cause of disorganization. It’s crucial that we become crystal clear about our goals, plans and objectives. Otherwise, we become disorganized as we try to be a jack of all trades…and master of none, as the saying goes. It’s very challenging, unfulfilling and unnecessary to try to be all things to all people.

One way to handle both PTM (Poor Time Management) and Disorganization is to use the W.I.N. Principle. W.I.N. stands for What’s Important Next. Ask yourself, when looking at your Disorganization, what is the ONE thing that I should do next? What is the one thing, that if I do it, can make the biggest difference? It could be the Biggest Difference in: Your Health. Your Relationships. Your Spirituality. Your Business. Your Finances. Your Fitness. You pick the category. Then do that ONE thing and only that until it is finished. Then, ask your self the question again, and Do That One Thing.

Another Great Principle and plan to combat Disorganizationis the W.O.W. Principle. W.O.W. stands for Within One Week.

There are 100 good, maybe great things to do each day. The most challenging task when we are disorganized is to determine which 99 not to do! I call this “The Tyranny of the Urgent”. We feel like we aren’t successful if we don’t do all that is put on our plate. Not true. Effective people recognize that we must do the most important things first and let other tasks wait. Sometimes, waiting long enough will make that task so unimportant that we discover that we really don’t need to do it at all.

To use the W.O.W. Principle, look at your tasks and determine which one will be most affected if you DON’T complete it within at least one week. What will be the consequences of NOT accomplishing that task within one week. For example, if you need to sit down and pay bills that are due in a few days, the consequences of not doing so might mean that you have to pay expensive late fees. So in order to avoid the pain of paying late fees, you would choose to sit down today and pay those bills on time.

Another important cause of Disorganization is “The Perfection Syndrome” You’ll know when you’re caught in this trap when you find yourself putting things off until you get them just exactly right. A client of my daughter’s spent months building and rebuilding her website but never published it because there was always one more thing to do. She finally realized that she couldn’t get her first client if she didn’t publish her site and start promoting it.

Here’s some words of wisdom to live by: “You don’t have to get it Perfect, you just have to get it Started!” Get started and make improvements as you go. Over-analysis Paralysis will stop us from achieving our goals every time. All our dreaming and planning yield no results if we don’t take action.

So, which of these three causes of Disorganization have you stopped in your tracks? What will you do to stop Disorganization? What will you do to W.I.N…..Within One Week?

I wanted to share a fun comment that a reader posted recently about this series as I published during a Blog Challenge – Great post – the advice is useful! The only irksome. thing about it is that on your terms, I’ve been having a longstanding affair with a lady AND both her sisters. – Greg Mercer, http://bigredcarpetnursing.com/

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Multi-Million Dollar Producer, Senior Executive Unit Leader, And Awarded Woman Of Enterprise, Sue Mazza Has Helped Thousands Of Leaders Move Out Of Self-Limiting Beliefs And Into Action To Achieve Their Goals And Dreams.
Sue Shares Exactly How She Built Her Team And Business To Sales Of Over Two MILLION Dollars Each Year! She Coaches And Mentors Individuals And Groups in all businesses around the world via phone, internet And Live Events.